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One of Neal Stephenson's more recent novels deals with this concept. Fake news becomes so bad that everyone starts singing everything they create.

pixl97 3y ago
This is about as realistic as the next generation of congress people ending up 40 years younger. We literally have politicians talking about pouring acid on hardware and expect these same bumbleheads to keep their signing keys safe at the same time. The average person is far too technologically illiterate to do that. Next time you go to grandmas house you'll learn she traded her signing key for chocolate chip cookies.
- RandallBrown 3y ago
  I imagine it would be something handled pretty automatically for everyone. If Apple wanted to sign every photo and document the iPhone they could probably make the whole user experience simple enough for most grandmas. Some people will certainly give away their keys, just like bank accounts and social security numbers today, but those people probably aren't terribly concerned with proving the ownership of their online documents.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    >I imagine it would be something handled pretty automatically for everyone. Then your imagination fails you. If it is automatic/easy, then you have the 'easy key' problem, such as the key is easy to steal or copy. For example is it based on your apple account? Then what occurs with an account is stolen? Is it based on a device, what happens when the device is stolen? Who's doing the PKI? Is it going to be like https, but for individuals (this has never really worked at this scale and with revocation). Like most social media is posting content taken by randos on the internet.
    - RandallBrown 3y ago
      When your account is stolen someone can create "official" documents in your name and impersonate you. There could be a system for invalidating your key after a certain date to help out with those situations. For prominent people who actually have to worry about being impersonated they could provide their own keys. The infrastructure could be managed by multiple groups or a singular one like the government. The point isn't to be a perfect system, it's to generate enough trust that what you're looking at is genuine and not a total fraud. In a world where AI bots are generating fake information about everyone in the world, that kind of system could certainly be built and be useful.

pixl97 3y ago

This is about as realistic as the next generation of congress people ending up 40 years younger. We literally have politicians talking about pouring acid on hardware and expect these same bumbleheads to keep their signing keys safe at the same time. The average person is far too technologically illiterate to do that. Next time you go to grandmas house you'll learn she traded her signing key for chocolate chip cookies.

RandallBrown 3y ago
I imagine it would be something handled pretty automatically for everyone. If Apple wanted to sign every photo and document the iPhone they could probably make the whole user experience simple enough for most grandmas. Some people will certainly give away their keys, just like bank accounts and social security numbers today, but those people probably aren't terribly concerned with proving the ownership of their online documents.
- pixl97 3y ago
  >I imagine it would be something handled pretty automatically for everyone. Then your imagination fails you. If it is automatic/easy, then you have the 'easy key' problem, such as the key is easy to steal or copy. For example is it based on your apple account? Then what occurs with an account is stolen? Is it based on a device, what happens when the device is stolen? Who's doing the PKI? Is it going to be like https, but for individuals (this has never really worked at this scale and with revocation). Like most social media is posting content taken by randos on the internet.
  - RandallBrown 3y ago
    When your account is stolen someone can create "official" documents in your name and impersonate you. There could be a system for invalidating your key after a certain date to help out with those situations. For prominent people who actually have to worry about being impersonated they could provide their own keys. The infrastructure could be managed by multiple groups or a singular one like the government. The point isn't to be a perfect system, it's to generate enough trust that what you're looking at is genuine and not a total fraud. In a world where AI bots are generating fake information about everyone in the world, that kind of system could certainly be built and be useful.